Guard-rail for passenger-cars.



No. 880,914. PATENTED MAR. s, 1908.. J.J.PETERSON. GUARD RAIL FORPASSENGER CARS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 19, 1907.

...'"-...,n ll i JOHN J. PETERSON, OF OHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GUARD-RAIL FOR PASSENGER-CARS.

Application filed August 19, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. PETERSON, a citizen ofjthe United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Guard-Rails forPassenger- Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to guard rails for passenger cars and moreparticularly sleeping cars.

It is well known to those accustomed to travel in the type of sleepingcars usually employed in this country that an entire section, that is tosay, an upper and lower berth, is frequently sold to a single person,and that merely the lower berth will be occupied. I11 such cases it isusual for the upper berth to be left up in its normal, day position, asthis affords more space for the lower berth, and is consequently moreconvenient and gives a better opportunity for ventilation. The aisles ofsleeping cars are necessarily somewhat narrow, and when a person iswalking down the aisle of the car, he is apt to be thrown from one sideto the other, especially when the car is rounding curves. At night whenthe berth curtains are down, the aisles seem especially narrow, but whenthe upper berths are lowered, a person is able to brace himself byleaning against the outer edge of the upper berths. This means ofassistance, however, is lacking when the upper berths are up in dayposition, and consequently a person walking down the aisle is frequentlyunable to save himself from being more or less completely thrown into aberth, much to the embarrassment both of the occupant of the berth andthe person passing.

The object of my invention is to provide practical means by whichpassengers may be saved from such predicament and be enabled to passsafely through the aisles of moving cars either at night or in the daytime.

I attain my object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of asleeping car showing the guard rail in acting position, and also innon-acting position. Fig. 2 is a detail view showing a preferred means(which is a sleeve) for holding the two sections of the guard rail inalinement when the rail is in set position, Fig. 3 is similar to Fig. 2except that the sleeve is shown in longitudinal section, Fig. 4 is atransverse sectional view of the guard rail Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented. March 3, 1908.

Serial N0. 389,216.

and sleeve taken on the line 4-4, Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a perspectiveview of a device suitable for holding the lower extremity of the railsections when not in use.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The seat ends a have attached thereto rods 1), c, which when in setposition are adapted to constitute a guard rail. In the preferredconstruction shown in the drawings, the said sections of the rail arepivotally connected to the seat ends by means of knobs d. These knobsare rotatable about their horizontal axes to permit the rods to swingfrom a hori- Zontal to a vertical position, as indicated. By preference,also one or both of the rods 1), c, are rotatable in said knob abouttheir own axes. The rod sections are of such length and'are so mountedupon the seat ends that when in acting position they may be joinedtogether to form virtually a single continuous rod, but when dropped toa vertical position out of use they will clear the floor of the car.

The preferred means for holding the rod sections 1), c, horizontally inacting position is the sleeve 6, which is adapted to slip over theadjacent ends of the rod sections and thereby firmly hold. them inalinement with each other. It is desirable that the sleeve should bepermanently held upon one of the rod sections to prevent its being lostor mislaid, and consequently a pin 0 is fastened into rod section 0 andadapted to project through the slot (2 in said sleeve. The preferredmeans for fastening the sleeve 0 in engagement with the rod section b isthe pin 6, fastened in said section I) and adapted to en ter within theslot e in said sleeve. The construction. is such that when the sleeve ispassed over the section b and the pin 6 is at the inner extremity of theslot e the rod sections will be rigidly and securely held in alinement.A catch f is located near the lower part of the seat end for holding therod sections and preventing vibration when they are not in use.

In operation, when the upper berths are up and it is desired to employthe guard rail, the two rod sections 5 and c are brought to a horizontalposition and the sleeve 6 slipped over the adjoining ends thereof,thereby holding them in alinement. A person may then move up and downthe aisle without danger of being thrown into the section. When all therods are up in acting position there is, practically speaking. acontinuous hand-rail from one end of the car to the other, and yet anyportion of this rail may be lowered at any time when any occupantdesires to enter or leave his sect-ion. Although this is intendedprimarily .for sleeping cars, it is obvious that it may be employed inordinary day coaches, or in any coaches having fixed seat ends.

The actual details of construction of this guard rail may, of course, beconsiderably varied Without departing from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A guard rail for passenger cars consisting of two rod sectionsarticulately connected to the diiierent seat ends. and means for holdingsaid sections in alinement.

2. A guard rail for passenger cars consisting of rod sections secured tothe different seat ends, and a sleeve for holding said sections inalinement.

3. A two-part guard rail for passenger cars,

each part of the rail being adapted to be secured to a seat end, andadapted to swing to a horizontal position when in use and to asubstantially vertical position when not in use, and a sleeve mountedupon one of said rail parts and adapted to disengagingly engage theother rail part for holding the same in alinement with each other.

4. In combination with the body of a passenger car, a seat end rigidlysecured to said car body, rods articulately connected to the seat ends,and means for temporarily coupling two rods on different seat endstogether, to thereby hold said rods in alinement in a direction parallelto the length of the car body.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto sub scribed my name in the presenceof two witnesses.

JOHN J. PETERSON.

